Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-12-07
Por the Yorkville Enquirer.
THE GRADED SCHOOL QUESTION.

ED1IOh VI liz 4IENSOihSCNs
your permission I propose to reply to the
article of.0"Taxpayer," in your last issue.
"Taxpayer' sets out with the remark
that "three-fourths of the taxpayers and
all the business men ofthe town," share his
views in opposition to the proposed grad
ed school. Did he think about what he
was writing when he said that? Would
he have said that if he had not been in
such hot haste to rush into print? Is it
true? Let us see.
Careful investigation shows that of the
"business men," about fifteen favor the
school and twenty are opposed. Of the
members of the bar, four favor it and two
probably are adverse. Of the professional
men about thirteen favor and one or two
oppose it; and while no careful canvass OF
the taxpayers has been been made, it is
pretty well a%scertained that a majority
favor a graded or free public school. Now
these statements are facts; they are not
the heated rhetoric ofan excited brain:
Now if Taxpayer" starts out and in
his very first sentence has such a statement
as this-that ''all the business men" of
Yorkville are opposed to a graded school,
then we will have to look with suspicion
on every statement he may make through
out the rest of his article.
And a little further on we hear him talk
ing after this name SIS it not time
to call a halt" and "have a grand re-
view - 'this terrible increase we are rush.
ing headlong into - ''the point of desper-
alton in this matter )" "was there not a
time when our people arose in their
might" &C., &c. Surely something awful
must be going to happen. The Indians
and the tories must be at our doors to
scalp our m and children and lay our
homes in ashes. Surely some awful ca
lamity is hanging over the town of York
Vile. What is this dire and unheard of
evil any way? A tvo mill tao to educate
our children! This horny-headed, Glow
en-footed monster that is soon to ravage9
Yorkville, "paralyze its energies" and
make the grass grow in our streets-ac-
cording to "~Tax-payer."
After Taxpayer" has marshalled all he
can find to say against the graded school
as proposed by the committee, he proceeds
to give q plan of his own, and he starts
out with this very innocent looking state
ment, that "the school building" (the fe-
male college building, [ suppose) be made
the property of the town."
The property of the town indeed! How
is the town going to get the building? 1t
has no money to buy it, and no authority
to levy a tax to buy it. Does 'TaXpayer'
mean to go around with a subscription
list to buy it? I wonder how many years
of begging and humiliation does he think
it would take before he got $4,000? Or
maybe he hopes the stockholders will make
Il present to the town of property which
cost SD, 900.
l don't hazard anything in saying that
Taxpayer" will never be able to secure
the building on his plan, and that kills
his scheme at the outset.
But suppose anybody was generous
enough to give the town the building (and
I don't think you can find such a person
with a dozen search warranty then we
would not be any better off than We are at
present. The school in the college build
ing would not be any better than it has
been for a dozen years past, and in saying
this l am not rejecting On those who have
been teaching there. 1t has not been
their fault. The fault lies elsewhere. The
failure in the past lies at the doors of the
people of Yorkville, and at the doors Of
our present public school system, which
is a failure and a farce, because it runs the
schools just long enough to break down
our private schools, and not long enough
to be of any effective service to the pupils.
M 1CpSdl W. olN L NV IL III III
phasis, Taxpayers" plan for a school
will not better matters n whit. We
would still have just what we have
had in the pasta handful at the college
building, and half a score of other little
handfuls-a school at nearly every mans
door in the town.
The trouble in Yorkville over the school
question is that we are too shattered and
disintegrated !; every tub is trying to sit
on it's own bottom" in school matters.
We will never have an efficient school
system in Yorkville so long as the present
isolating custom prevails, and ''TaXpay-
er's" plan will do nothing toward correct
ing the present unhappy system.
/ see no way out of the present school
muddle, and the present premium on illit-
eracy (for half the children are not at
schooD thar by adopting the plan of the
committee.
But, it may be asked, Why are you SO
in earnest in urging a graded school?
Here is the answer and it is a simple and
free public school is the best, the most eff
that the wisdom and experience of man
has ever been able to devise. This state
ment, Mr.. Editor, is not mere assertion
and buncombe. 1t is the simple fact-as-
certained to be a fact after years Of
trial. The concensus of the educational
world has long ago settled that point.
Now if we are going to have a system of
education, why not get the best that is to
be had? Is not that the dictate of sound
common sense-if taxpayer" pleases-
'business" sense?
Now it is evident that the ghost which is
soaring "TaXpayer' is the expense of this
graded free school system. tell "TaX-